Moon Fantasies - The clouds playing ball

This project came into being just a few months ago, when clearing out some parts of my photo archive, getting rid of excess images. I came across a collection of images of cloud formations that I shot occasionly when the sky looked interesting. After sorting out over 70 % of the images and looking at the remaining ones again I thought: "This could be an interesting series..."

I finally chose 12 images, that I turned into an A4 size folio, ink-jet printed on Hahnemühle PhotoRag Baryta glossy paper (305 grams / m2), including a cover sheet with a few thoughts about the project. To keep the prints together as a unit I made a folded folio cover out of brown heavy art paper (300 grams / m2) that you see below.

The finished Folio #3

Translation of the cover sheet text (from German):

The moon, our companion for about 4 billion years. After the sun, the brightest object in our sky. The most perceived heavenly body, most observed, a telescope is hardly necessary. Depending on the constellation with the sun and the earth and the prevailing weather, the Moon often appears small and pale, then again oversized and as a "Supermoon" during an eclipse, almost inflated and threatening.

Its reflected light needs only 1.3 seconds to reach us. During its orbits, the sunlight hits the moon at different angles, which provokes the familiar moon phases. Surprisingly, we always see the same piece of moon facing us, because it turns accordingly.

The moon plays a role in numerous myths. There is a close connection with religions and particular lunar cultures. In the past, the Moon was worshiped and the number of divinities assigned to him is numerous. Most often the Moon was represented by a goddess. Even today, the moon is feminine in many languages​and cultures.

The moon goddess symbolizes the changing image of the moon phases in three phases: she spends her youth as a virgin in the phase of the increasing sickle, then lives as a mature woman and mother during the full moon, and finally ends her life as an old woman in the phase of the diminishing moon. During the New Moon she often appears as ruler of the underworld before she rejuvenates another cycle.

Well, I myself can do little with such stories. The moon does not affect me in this mystified way. He seems to me to be lonely and deserted. His pale light at full moon spreads a rather bizarre than a creepy mood.

The most fascinating times for me are during the morning, or the late afternoon and evening hours. When the sky is of a deep blue, gathering the most diverse types of clouds and often seems as if the sky would play with the Moon. For me this has something deeply meditative and peaceful in itself.